This is too good not to share. It is not really all that surprising that the BBC doesn’t want a sculpture of Orwell outside its building, but surely to goodness its director knows the difference between a proposal drawing and an actual sculpture. Anyway, here’s to George O. Don’t know how he’s doing in Paris, but obviously he is still “down and out in London.”

Outgoing Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, created a small firestorm last week – and raised a few eyebrows, when he nixed any idea of a statue of George Orwell being placed at the BBC’s new Broadcasting House– on the grounds that it was “too left wing.” … The statue on the Piazza – the hill, the square – continues to shock and provoke. This one though, has not yet left the artist’s desk, … and for us the feeling is more of bemusement than shock. Yes, we’re “bemused… ” and a little bewildered, and also seduced by this unfurling media boondoggle (… but the headline “Sculpture Bemusement” is just not nearly as catchy as “Sculpture Shock.” …)

George Orwell worked for the BBC during WWII, from 1941 to 1943 – countering Hitler’s propaganda with radio broadcasts to India, as part of the Beeb’s Eastern Service. He left the BBC…